Don't be a 'Twitter Whore'

I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon in September when I was involved in UGA's Connect Conference.  In my first few days using it, I got a crash course in this new phenomenon.  Since October, I've stayed on Twitter mainly to follow professors and professionals in the PR world, especially those who are experts in social media.   

There are definitely different types of people on Twitter - those who use it just for personal use, those who use it to keep up with industry trends, and companies using it for business.  Before I get any further into this discussion, I have to post this video a friend pointed out to me a few days ago.  

Personally, I think this video is an example of everything that is wrong with Twitter.  It should be used constructively as a social media tool, not as a way to stalk people (there's enough of that on Facebook and Myspace).

In researching ways for businesses to use Twitter, I came across a great blog post offering 50 ideas on using Twitter.  Some of the main points were:

• use Twitter Search to listen for your name and your competitor's names
• talk to people about their interests
• share links to things in your community
• have more than one twitterer at the company
• ask questions
• follow interesting people
• share the human side of your company
• comment on others' tweets, retweet what others say to build community
• Twitter at events can help people build an instant "backchannel" 

It seems that more and more companies are getting on Twitter to set themselves apart from competitors.  I wonder if soon Twitter will be something businesses have to do simply to keep up with the times rather than to be unique.